CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Microbia, Inc. today announced that it has changed its name to Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The ironwood is a long-lived tree that thrives in the harshest desert environment, with some trees surviving as long as 1,500 years. Known as a "nurse tree," it provides a shaded microclimate with lower temperatures, higher water availability, and more organic matter for birds, reptiles, insects, animals, and plants. In addition, the name Ironwood encompasses the inorganic and organic -- the properties of essential elements and the characteristics of life.

"As Microbia has developed and progressed, we have outgrown the usefulness of the name Microbia," said Peter Hecht, CEO. "With that in mind, we sought a name for the company that reflects our approach to creating important human medicines. Because our research efforts are not limited to a single therapeutic area, we require a name that will accommodate a broad range of discoveries and products. We chose a name that not only suits us today, but also can endure for 100 years."

Additional information can be found at http://www.ironwoodpharma.com.

About Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (formerly Microbia)

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (http://www.ironwoodpharma.com) is an entrepreneurial pharmaceutical company dedicated to the art and science of great drugmaking. The Company is advancing several clinical candidates -- linaclotide for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation, chronic constipation and other functional gastrointestinal disorders; and novel, next-generation cholesterol absorption inhibitors for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Ironwood also has a growing pipeline of additional drug candidates in earlier stages of development. Microbia Precision Engineering, Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals is an industrial biotechnology company developing and commercializing novel bioprocesses for the production of specialty chemicals. Ironwood has raised $231 million in private equity financing and is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.